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Reducing bureaucracy and helping bereaved people - government report published today

The Government is today launching a new report to help ease the administrative process that bereaved people face at a sensitive time and to enable staff to deliver a more effective and personal service to bereaved people.

The ‘Making a Difference: Bereavement’ report has been a collaborative project, lead by the Cabinet Office, the Department for Work and Pensions, Inland Revenue Capital Taxes, the Probate Service and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, working closely with the Home Office and the Office for National Statistics.

Over the last ten months the Cabinet Office has been working with front-line staff and policy officials involved in the delivery of bereavement-related services. Through this work the Cabinet Office identified 39 actions and made eight recommendations for addressing areas of unnecessary bureaucratic burden that will reduce confusion and the number transactions required. These include:

• Streamlining processes associated with probate and inheritance tax related issues making it easier for bereaved people to obtain the grant of probate;
• Reducing unnecessary paperwork around information sharing between Departments, notably between Department for Work and Pensions and local authorities, and for bereaved people dealing with death registration issues;
• Improving guidance through re-branding the Department for Work and Pensions’ publication ‘What to do after a death in England and Wales’ (D49’ to a cross-government ‘HM Government’ guidance for bereaved people;
• Forging closer links between existing information data sources, gateways and portals including government connect, Info4local and Directgov, helping to improve information exchange between Departments and reduce official demands made on bereaved people to access services.

Launching the report Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions at the Department for Work and Pensions, said:

‘This is an important first step in raising awareness of the administrative burdens experienced during bereavement and lays the foundation for further work and debate in this area.’

David Miliband, Minister for the Cabinet Office said:

‘We have tackled bureaucracy across a range of departments. Today’s report builds on this work and allows us to rightly focus on the needs of bereaved people. I want today’s commitment to have a lasting and positive effect on bereaved people and front-line staff.’

Over the next two years, the Cabinet Office will continue to work in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions, Inland Revenue Capital Taxes, the Probate Service and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to evaluate and monitor the implementation of these measures. Departments will also consider how the recommendations within the report can be built into their long-term business strategies. The Cabinet Office will also work with front-line and departmental staff to ensure that implementation is timely and successful.

Notes to editors

1. The report can be found at: http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/regulation/reviewing_regulation/
   public_sector/projects/mad/bereave.asp http://www.berr.gov.uk/ [External website] [Edit revision 05/09/2008]
2. In April 2004 the Parliamentary Commissioner for Public Administration (PCA) raised a concern that a bereaved relative faced numerous and bureaucratic transactions when dealing with public services.
3. The project has been a joint effort between the Department for Work and Pensions, the Inland Revenue, the Probate Service and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
4. In producing this report, the Cabinet Office’s Regulatory Impact Unit Interviewed over 130 front-line staff in the Department for Work and Pensions, local authorities, the Probate Service and the Inland Revenue. The interviews were conducted between summer 2004 and spring 2005. The Cabinet Office also worked with support charities, such as Cruse Bereavement Care, to ensure that outcomes and recommendations would benefit bereaved people.

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